Solutions
Patients around the country rely on health systems and clinicians daily to protect their health and maximize their time with loved ones. At the Novant Health Center for Public Policy Solutions, clinicians take action to reduce clinician burnout, improve patient access to care, and create a healthier future for all. The Center creates actionable solutions through public policy research and the expertise of the practicing clinicians at the heart of healthcare that remove public policy barriers to the care patients need and deserve.
The latest from the Center: The role of public policy in protecting patients with sepsis
The Center listened to front-line clinicians, patients, and support teams who are impacted daily by public policies when creating its latest report, which offers a solution to one of the most impactful issues facing health systems today: sepsis. Medical protocol ambiguity, misaligned insurer coverage priorities, and public policy gaps are failing patients who require care for sepsis. The Center’s solution would create state policies that make sepsis care consistent while decreasing healthcare costs, clinician burnout, long-term health impacts for patients, and in the worst cases, patient deaths.
The problem
As sepsis science has evolved, an ongoing debate remains between practicing clinicians and theory-based researchers about the definition of sepsis. Most practicing clinicians endorse what’s known as the “Sepsis-2” definition, while researchers and many insurers use the “Sepsis-3” definition. Among the chief differences between the definitions is when sepsis-level care is initiated. The Sepsis-2 definition leads to protocols that are prevention-focused, starting care at the earlier signs of potential sepsis. Protocols based on Sepsis-3 mean a much later diagnosis, which leads to a delayed start for sepsis-level treatment and has been shown to increase the odds for more serious patient outcomes and death. Medical-expert level care may not ultimately be covered when insurers use the Sepsis-3 definition for coverage decisions.
Public and insurer polices keep patients safest when they reflect clinicians’ medical training, front-line experience and oath to “first do no harm.” Clinicians experience burnout at levels that cause more and more to leave practice daily when policies are out of sync with the people they are meant to protect.
Novant Health Center for Public Policy Solutions White Paper
This comprehensive assessment provides invaluable insights into the challenges faced by patients and clinicians and offers solutions to address sepsis definition ambiguity, policy alignment and opaque coverage rules.
Download our white paper